Former Rep Boucher: Government Should Set Sunset Date for PSTN

Former House Communications Subcommittee Chair Rick Boucher (D-VA), who was instrumental in the 1996 Telecommunications Act, has plenty of advice for his former colleagues according to the Internet Innovation Alliance, including sun-setting the public-switched telephone network (PSTN) by the end of this decade in favor of Internet protocol (IP)-based communications.

Boucher, now honorary chairman of the Internet Innovation Alliance, said there is an urgent need for "deregulatory parity" among similarly situated ISPs, and that any legislation should take a "light touch" to broadband. He also suggests restructuring the Federal Communications Commission in recognition of cross-platform competition for voice, video and data among stakeholder, including cable and wireless.